Ethical cornerstones of people-oriented leadership

Abstract

We focus on the philosophical and ethical framework on which mindful leadership can be built. Mindful leadership is fed by a well-founded and embodied leadership ethic, which can be experienced not only in the attitude but also in day-to-day actions. Mindful leadership is derived from value management, in which certain basic ethical constants are available as a basis for mindful action. The development of a basic ethical attitude and mindset in human interaction is a profoundly complex process. It cannot be adopted and applied “off the peg,” as it were. Rather, ethics is based on a system of values that is shaped by culture, society and individual socialization. In the professional and organizational context, this means developing a credible leadership ethic in which both the value base of the leader and his concrete actions follow a coherent normative logic. In the following, we would like to define and explain some parameters without which mindful leadership is not possible. Mindful leadership can only be based on the maxims of the ethics of responsibility, in that the leader is always aware of the consequences of his actions and has to answer for them.